There was a hint of arrogance in the way the Montreal Impact conducted themselves during Wednesday night’s 6-0 Canadian Championship clobbering of Toronto FC.

Not the kind that calls sportsmanship into question. Nothing nefarious, either.

It was of a different brand, a way of saying Wednesday night’s Canadian Cup result proves who’s leading the way in this growing rivalry.

In fact, “growing” might be an understatement, especially after witnessing what went down along the sidelines at Saputo Stadium.

After the Impact’s Marco Di Vaio put the aggregate tie further out of reach in stoppage time at Saputo Stadium, Impact staffers entered the field, turned to TFC’s bench and taunted TFC head coach Ryan Nelsen and the Reds.

The Impact celebrated their sixth like they celebrated their first, each goal driving the dagger further into the hearts of an exhausted TFC fan base that’s holding out hope Nelsen can alter course.

Keeping up with the tone of this piece, Impact head coach Marco Schallibaum was asked about Nelsen’s decision to rest a few key players.

“That’s not my problem,” Schallibaum blew off the question.

I asked if he was surprised.

“Surprised? That’s not my problem,” he repeated. “I won 6-0. That’s a question you must ask Ryan.”

Over to you, coach Nelsen.

“To be fair, I didn’t have any options (due to injuries) at right or left back,” Nelsen said in defending his lineup. “(In midfield), Kyle Bekker is a Canadian international and Jonathan Osorio deserved a place ... When the key plays had to be made, Montreal just made them.”

Still, Nelsen blamed himself, knowing damn well it was the professionals on the field that let the club, the city, down.

“I put the faith in the guys,” Nelsen said. “When it breaks down, it’s on me.”

But systems can’t fix fanned clearances and mistimed 50-50 tackles, incidents that were to blame for at least 50% of the Impact’s goals Wednesday night — all season for that matter.

“It was just a simple case of literally every key play we lost,” Nelsen said in a roundabout way pointing to his players individually. “This is something we’ll look back on in a certain amount of time, when this club has evolved into a certain animal, and we’ll say this was probably the start of something.”

For now, though, that animal remains a goat.

THIS AND THAT

Toronto teams lost by a combined score of 20-2 Wednesday night. In addition to TFC losing 6-0, the Maple Leafs were drubbed 4-1 by the Bruins while the Blue Jays were routed 10-1 by the Red Sox ... Wondering if Impact owner, and cheese tycoon, Joey Saputo is saying “I told you so,” after Wednesday night. After the Impact limped out of BMO Field with a 2-0 loss in last week’s first leg, Saputo tweeted, “It ain’t over, folks” ... The glass quarter-full approach for Toronto at the moment? For the first time in four seasons the Reds can focus on getting things right in MLS. As Wednesday night’s result eliminated TFC from this summer’s CONCACAF Champions League, Toronto’s number of midweek fixtures just got cut in half.

OH, THEY DID

Remember that quiet arrogance I mentioned? After scoring their fifth goal Wednesday night, Impact officials sent out the following tweet in response to TFC’s front office publicly pushing TFC to “make it five” Canadian Championships in a row. “Dear @torontofc, can we have your #makeitfive hashtag? Sincerely, the Montreal Impact. Thank you. #IMFC 5-0.”

Toronto FC feels the Impact

Montreal’s dismantling of TFC done with hint of arrogance

There was a hint of arrogance in the way the Montreal Impact conducted themselves during Wednesday night’s 6-0 Canadian Championship clobbering of Toronto FC.

Not the kind that calls sportsmanship into question. Nothing nefarious, either.

It was of a different brand, a way of saying Wednesday night’s Canadian Cup result proves who’s leading the way in this growing rivalry.

In fact, “growing” might be an understatement, especially after witnessing what went down along the sidelines at Saputo Stadium.

After the Impact’s Marco Di Vaio put the aggregate tie further out of reach in stoppage time at Saputo Stadium, Impact staffers entered the field, turned to TFC’s bench and taunted TFC head coach Ryan Nelsen and the Reds.

The Impact celebrated their sixth like they celebrated their first, each goal driving the dagger further into the hearts of an exhausted TFC fan base that’s holding out hope Nelsen can alter course.